Education and the Family: Passing Success across the Generations (Foundations and Futures of Education)

241 Pages·2008·2.83 MB·English

by  Leon Feinstein

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Education and the Family
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3111 Why it is that success, deprivation or disadvantage are so often passed down
4 intergenerationally? What part does education play?
5 The educational achievement of parents is often reflected in that of their
6 children and there are many underlying causes for such a relationship.
7 Education and the Familyargues that government policy has an important
8 role to play in addressing this inequality even though many of the causes
9 lie within the home. Although each child should be supported to achieve
20111 his or her objectives, differences in the willingness or capabilities of families
1 to take advantage of educational opportunities exacerbate social class differ-
2 ences and limit actual equality of opportunity for many. Understanding the
3 causes of this transmission is key to both tackling social class inequality and
4 expanding the skill base of the economy.
5 By providing an overview of academic and policy thinking in relation to
6 the role of the family, this book explores the educational success of children.
7 It focuses on the education of the parents but also considers how the family
8 – compared to wider, external influences such as schools – is a driver of
9 differences in educational outcomes. It concludes with a consideration of
30111 what policy-makers are attempting to do about this key issue and why, and
1 how this will impact on schools and teachers.
2 This book will interest researchers and academics in education and social
3 policy, as well as teachers and other education and social policy practitioners.
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5 Leon Feinstein is Professor of Education and Social Policy and Director,
6 Kathryn Duckworth is Research Officer and Ricardo Sabates is Senior
7 Research Officer, all at the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of
8 Learning, Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
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Foundations and Futures of Education
Series Editors:
Peter Aggleton University of London, UK
David Halpin University of London, UK
Sally Power Cardiff University, UK
Education and the Family: passing success across the generations
Leon Feinstein, Kathryn Duckworth and Ricardo Sabates
Education, Philosophy and the Ethical Environment
Graham Haydon
Educational Activity and the Psychology of Learning
Judith Ireson
Schooling, Society and Curriculum
Alex Moore
Gender, Schooling and Global Social Justice
Elaine Unterhalter
1111 Education and the Family
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Passing success across the
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Leon Feinstein,
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4 Kathryn Duckworth and
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6 Ricardo Sabates
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First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2008 Leon Feinstein, Kathryn Duckworth and Ricardo Sabates
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Feinstein, L.
Education and the family : passing success across the
generations/Leon Feinstein, Kathryn Duckworth and
Ricardo Sabates.
p. cm.
1. Home and school – Great Britain. 2. Parents – Education
– Great Britain. 3. Parental influences – Great Britain.
4. Success – Great Britain. 5. Educational sociology – Great
Britain. I. Duckworth, Kathryn. II. Sabates, Ricardo.
III. Title.
LC225.33.G7F45 2008
371.19′2–dc22 2007051680
ISBN 0-203-89492-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–39636–0 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–39637–9 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–89492–8 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–39636–3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–39637–0 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–89492–7 (ebk)
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Contents
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3111 List of illustrations viii
4 Series editors’ foreword x
5 Preface xii
6 Acknowledgements xiv
7 List of abbreviations xvi
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1 Introduction 1
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Background 2
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The context 2
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An overview 4
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5 PART I
Understanding and conceptualising the importance
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7 of education 9
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9 2 Understanding the importance of parents’ education 11
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Defining education 12
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Measuring education 13
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Parental education and the attainment gap 15
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Correlation does not imply causation! 17
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But is the effect of education causal? 19
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Summary 22
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3 Conceptualising the influence of parents’ education:
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a framework for analysis 23
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40111 The ecological model of human development 23
1 A conceptual model of the intergenerational transmission
21111 of educational success 25
vi Contents
Interdisciplinary perspectives, complementarities and
alternative approaches 30
The wider context 36
Summary 41
PART II
The influence of parents’ education: a review of
the evidence 43
4 The importance of what goes on in the family 45
Introduction 45
Parenting style 51
Educational behaviours 61
Summary 71
5 Internal features of the family environment 73
Introduction 73
Parental cognitions 76
Parental mental health and well-being 90
Summary 94
6 Distal family factors 96
Introduction 96
Family structure 98
Family size 102
Teenage motherhood 104
Income and poverty 107
Maternal employment 110
Summary 113
7 The importance of other developmental contexts 115
Introduction 115
Pre-schools 122
Schools 125
Neighbourhoods 129
Summary 132
Contents vii
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2 Policy and the wider responsibilities of education:
3 early preventive action 135
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8 A framework for supporting resilience in childhood 137
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7 Preventive action to enhance equality of opportunity
8 and of outcomes 137
9 Methods and research resources 138
1011 The prediction data and outcomes 145
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Results 152
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Summary 166
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9 Implications of the ecological model of home–school
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interaction for policy development 168
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Summary: the key channels for education effects 169
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Future research 171
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Themes for policy 172
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Concluding discussion and three key themes 182
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References 187
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Index 215
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Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Average rank of test scores at 22, 42, 60 and 120 months,
by SES of parents 16
2.2 Average rank of test scores at 22, 42, 60 and 120 months,
by schooling of parents 16
3.1 Three categories of family-level influences on child
development 25
3.2 Conceptual model for the effects of parents’ education
on children’s school achievement 26
3.3 Conceptual model for the moderating influences of
parental education on income 28
4.1 Conceptual model for the effects of proximal family
processes on child development outcomes 46
5.1 Conceptual model for the influence of the key internal
features of the family environment 74
5.2 Some hypothesised direct and indirect influences of
parental cognitions 78
6.1 Conceptual model for the influence of distal family factors 97
7.1 Conceptual model for the influences of neighbourhood 118
7.2 Conceptual model for multi-level interactions between
family and neighbourhood contexts 119
7.3 Conceptual model for multi-level interactions between
family and schools 121
8.1 Probability of multiple deprivation at age 30,
by birth SES 152
8.2 Probability of multiple deprivation at age 30,
by level of risk 154
8.3 Number of sweeps ‘at risk’, multiple deprivation
at age 42 156
Illustrations ix
1111 8.4 Number of sweeps ‘at risk’, multiple deprivation
2 at age 30 157
3 8.5 Probability of multiple deprivation at age 42 by number
4 of sweeps ‘at risk’ 158
5 8.6 Probability of multiple deprivation at age 30 by number
6 of sweeps ‘at risk’ 159
7 8.7 Risk continuity: true positives and false positives for
8 multiple adult deprivation at age 23 160
9 8.8 Risk continuity: true positives and false positives for
1011 multiple adult deprivation at age 30 161
1 9.1 Inputs and outputs of the education and health systems 180
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Tables
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6 outcomes 144
7 8.2 Sources and ages of data collection in the NCDS and
8 BCS 70 148
9 8.3 Number of constructs in each dataset, by age and domain 150
20111 8.4 Predicting outcomes at age 30 from age 10 measures 153
1 8.5 Odds of multiple adult deprivation given childhood risk
2 categorisation 156
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